RHAMXAi i:.i:. 



3. EUONTMUS. Tourn. Spindle-tree. 



Sepals 4 or 5, united at the base, forming a short and 

 flat calyx. Petals 4 to 5, rounded, spreading. Stamens 

 very short, inserted on the upper face of a broad and flat 4 

 to 5-angled disk. Style short or none. Capsule with 3 

 to 5 angles, 3 to 5 cells and as many valves. Seeds 1 to 2 

 in each cell, inclosed in a red fleshy aril. — Shrubs with 6-sided 

 Lranchbts, opposite serrate leaves, and hose cymes of small 

 green or dark purple flowers on axillary peduncles. 



1. E. atropurpureus, Jacq. Burning Bush. 



Stem •with smooth, opposite, square branches; leaves petioled, oral-oblong, 

 pointed, serrate, pubescent beneath ; flowers mostly in fours; fruit smooth, deeply 

 lobed. 



Hedges and banks of stream?; sometimes cultivated. June. A handsome orna- 

 mental shrub 4 to S feet high. Flowers dark purple. Fruit very showy at the 

 close of autumn, drooping on long peduncles. Oipsule crimson, smooth. Aril 

 enclosing the seed, scarlet. 



2. E. Americanus, L. Strawberry Tree. Burning Bush. 



Branches opposite, smooth, square; leaves opposite, sessile, oblong-lanceolate, 

 varying to oval, acute, serrate; penunclcs 1 to 3-flowered, rounded; calyx small, 

 ■with acute segments; flowers in fives, fruit rough, warty, depre 



places and moist woods. June. Shrub 4 to 6 feet high. Floaters greenish- 

 yellow with a tinge of purple. Fruit not as copious as the above, crimson when 

 ripe, the aril scarlet. 



Order 35. RH^EINAGEIE.— TJie Buckthorn Family. 



Shrubs or small fires, with simple leaves, minute stipules, and small regular axil- 

 lary e/r terminal flowers (sometimes ttpetalous). Branches often thorny. Sepals 4 or 5, 

 united at base, yalvate i. Petals 4 or 5, distinct, cuecullate or con- 



cave, inserted along with the stamens into the edge of a fie -by disk which line i the 

 short tube of the calyx. Stamens 4 to 5 opposite the petals. I 'or or 



half superior, 2 to 5-celled. Stigmas 2 to 5. Frot flesh}- and indehiscent, or dry 

 and separating in 3 parts. Seees erect, mostly with fleshy albumen. 



1. RHAMNUS. Linn. Buckthorn. 



Or. Bamnos, the ancient name; from the numerous branchlets. 



Calyx 4 to 5-cleft. Petals 4 to 5, shorter than the 

 sepals, alternate with the lobes of the calyx, sometimes very 

 minute or wanting. Stamens 4 to 5, inserted above the 

 petals. Style 2 to 4-cleft. Fruit a berry-like drupe, 

 containing 2 to 4 cartilaginous nuts. — Small trees or shrubs, 

 with mostly alternate leaves, and minute flowers in short 

 axillary clusters, of ten polygamous or dioecious. 



